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Cold Nights, Clear Days

Susan McKenzie / 11.09.2006

The Raid race rules require teams to sleep 27 hours over the course of the race, at checkpoints or transition areas.

In a sense, sleep strategy in this race will be a bit like pit stop strategy in Formula One – one pit, two pits, one sleep, two sleeps. Has the team ahead of us slept? If so, how much? Is the team behind us better rested, or preparing to crash and burn?

On the first night, all of the top teams bar one (Sport 2000 Lafuma) had stopped to sleep for at least four hours. Some teams have slept more, others have slept less. Less experienced teams will be tempted to push hard, the allure of leading the pack too great a temptation. In an eight day race, however, strategy and careful decision making are as crucial as skill and physical fitness.

For that same reason, it\'s almost impossible to determine who is actually in the lead. The third place team may have had more sleep, or even the fifth place team. According to the Competitio tracking system, Wilsa Helly Hansen has moved past CP20 and is in the lead, with Spyder and Les Arcs Quechua not far behind, followed by GoLite Timberland and Nike. Meanwhile at the back, the slower teams are making steady progress across the course.

This morning’s clear blue sky promises another beautiful day, and the weather forecast is calling for a high of 15 degrees, with a brisk evening low of 1 Celsius.

Only two teams have dropped out of the race: Tourag Turk Colombia and Uka-X Team Lleda. Both are relatively inexperienced and were moving too slowly on the course from the outset.

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